


326 HE 

P65 

opv 1 f 



Mineral 
Belt of 
Alabama 



''HE FAVORED 
I SECTION OF THE 



SOUTH 



FCR AGRICULTURAL, MINERAL AND 
TIMBER LANDS 



FRANK Y. ANDERSON, 



LAND COMMISSIONER. 

BIRMINGHAM «^ ' A. 



For FaHsenfier Kate?, apply to W. C. Rineavson, General Pa8!^enp,er Aixr.t, 
Qneen & Crescent System. Cincinnaii, O. 



0. H. R06AN, Colonization Agent, Fiirmingham, Ala 



HT8 A SON, "BmTefW, BlHTINfJHA*. 




Glass iLll^ 



A-k^ 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 



THE ALABAMA STATE LAND COMPANY, 
owner of the lands of the Alabama and Chatta- 
nooga Railroad — now known as the Alabama 
Great Southern Railroad — has for sale in North Ala- 
bama over six hundred thousand acres of agricultural, 
timber and mineral lands. 

These lands are situated convenient to the stations 
and on each side of the Alabama Great Southern 
Railroad, a division of the Queen and Crescent 
system, which runs from Cincinnati to New Orleans 
and from Cincinnati to Shreveport, via Meridian, 
Mississippi. 

The Alabama Great Southern Railroad traverses 
the entire State of Alabama from the northeast to the 
southwest corner, and follows the centre of the great 
mineral belt of Alabama for its entire length. 

This mineral belt is about fifty miles wide, and 
extends from the northeast corner of the State 
toward the southwest, for about two hundred miles. 
It is within this great belt that all the coal, iron and 
rock mines, furnaces and manufactories of all kinds 
are located, and where the future wealth and natural 
increase in the value of real estate will be found. 

It is here where the great towns of the State 
will be situated, as they are now springing up within 
this territory all along the line of the Alabama Great 
Southern Railroad. 

Here, too, employment of all kinds can be found, 
and every pound of produce raised from the land can 
be marketed at a high price at the nearest station. 

Good farming lands can be purchased fr^ the 
Company within this region for from $3.50 tcr$5.00 
per acre — one-fourth cash, the balance in one, two and 
three years. 



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r^ 



.At5 



OUR AGENTS. 



THE COMPANY has established local agencies 
for the sale of its lands at different points 
within this mineral belt, and by calling on 
either or all of them, they will be found on hand to 
show you the country. 

At the north end will be found Mr. W. O. W. 
Paixe, at Valley Head, DeKalb county, Alabama ; 
in the centre will be found Mr. E. A. Ceandall, at 
Springville, St. Clair county, Alabama, and the head- 
quarters of the Company at Birmingham ; and at the 
southern end will be found Mr. C. E. Crandall, Tus- 
caloosa, Tuscaloosa county, Alabama, Mr. C. C. Collier, 
at Blocton, Bibb county, Alabama, and Mr. Cad Jones, 
Greensboro, Hale county, Alabama. 

Letters from well known citizens residing at dif- 
ferent points in this section are published as refer- 
ences. 

The climate of this mineral belt is unsurpassed, 
there being no fevers or malaria of any kind. The 
summers, though longer than those of the North, are 
far more pleasant and uniform in temperature. The 
winters are short and salubrious and exceedingly 
recuperative to those who have suffered from the 
extremes of the North. 

The average farmer can realize more from a given 
number of acres in the South than he can in the 
North, because in the North the summers are short 
and the winters are long, and a great deal of his crop 
has to be housed and fed away to keep his stock alive 
during the winter ; whereas, in the South, the winters 
being short and mild, the stock keep fat all the year 
round from running on the range, and consume very 
little, if any, of the crop, thus enabling the Southern 
farmer to sell almost everything that comes off of 
the lands, and in this way realize much more from his 
efforts than he would if he lived in the North. 

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From two to three crops can be raised on the 
same land each year. 

Good schools, peaceful homes, renewed health, 
pleasant surroundings, great prosperity and hospita- 
ble neighbors await those who move from the North- 
west into this section of the country. 

Those who wish to move South from the North 
and West should come to Cincinnati and take the 
Queen and Crescent system of railroads. 

For further information apply to the references 
within, to the local agents, or the undersigned, 
FRANK Y. ANDERSON, 
First National Bank Building, 

Birmingham. Alabama. 



(3) 



THE PLAC!: TO MAKE HOiMES. 



Valley Head, Ala. 

My business for the last year has carried tne several times 
over all of this — DeKalb— county, and a good part of Etowah 
and Cherokee. ij 

For my own profit and information, I have made it afj 
point to consult with farmers. I saw last year's crops gath- 
ered, and this year's planted and grown, and may be able to 
give some facts that will prove of interest to those who may 
wish to secure homes. 

I shall confine my observations to the plateaus of Lookout 
and Sand Mountains — first, because almost all the unoccupied 
land is there; second, because it has become an evident fact 
that these plateaus are the most desirable portions of North 
Alabama. 

I recently took a two day's trip from Lathamville, west 
and north and back to Dawson, in company with Mr. Linzey 
Cash, a man who located there some years ago and is now a 
prosperous farmer. We traveled probably thirty miles, and 
passed on our road twelve men who had money loaned, and 
plenty of everything about them. These men, without a single 
exception, began poor, bought their land on time, most of 
them, and have made what they have from their farms. 

There are hundreds of men similarly situated, and there 
is no doubt but what they are more or less indebted for their 
prosperous circumstances to the " railroad lands" which they 
were able to buy cheap and on easy terms, enabling them to 
get a start for themselves. 

There is the same character of soil on both mountains — 
loose, sandy. The land never "bakes" or gets too hard to 
plow, and even in the bottoms, such a thing as a clod of any 
size is unknown. 

For those who wish to engage in stock raising and fruit 
culture, in connection with general farming, I would rec- 
ommend Lookout Mountain; the surface there is much 
more broken than on Sand Mountain, and there will always be 
large areas left open. These rough lands, being generally on 
creeks, afford the best range for both cattle and hogs. 

Lookout Mountain has an average width of ten miles, and 
extends rather northeast and southwest, for a distance of 
forty-five miles (where I know the land). There are nine 
streams ot consequence, and numerous branches running into 
them. 

Sand Mountain is twenty-two miles wide, and there are 

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twelve streams with names, and numerous branches. It is 
certainly the prettiest country 1 have ever seen— smooth and 
level and the surface free from rocks. It is a very poor farmer 
wiio does not raise more than a half bale of cotton and 
twenty-five bushels of corn per acre. 

J. C. Bray, of Sand Mountain PostoflBce, told me that last 
year he used guano and raised one-half to two-thirds of a 
bale per acre, but on all he cultivated individually he used 
compost made from his stables and raised seven bales on 
seven acres — no guano at all. 

Wheat is not generally raised on the mountains, but one 
of the best crops I saw this year was on Sand Mountain, and 
the quality of the grain is always finer than the valley wheat, 
just as the "sample" of the Sand Mountain cotton is better 
than from any other section of North Alabama. Why this is 
so, I cannot say, but it is an undisputed fact. 

It is also universally conceded that the mountains stand a 
drouth far better than the valleys. Every one who has the op- 
portunity to compare acknowledges this, but very few try to 
explain why it is so. The only plausible reason I have heard is 
the one advanced by John Mason, a Northern man, located 
near here on Lookout Mountain. He says that the formation 
of the bed-rock is such that there is perpetual under-drainage, 
and the rock being comparatively close to the surface, and the 
soil loose, vegetation growing on top is able, by capillary at- 
traction, to draw the moisture up through the loose soil. Con- 
sequently it is only after all the water in the ground is 
exhausted that the crops suffer. J. C. Bray, whom I men- 
tioned before, came to Sand Moutain from the Coosa River 
bottoms, where he had always been a renter. He is a great 
worker, and a good farmer, and the small lot of " railroad 
land" he was able to buy at first has expanded to over five 
hundred acres. His step-sons, James and Andy Gaines, have 
prospered equally as well. 

Everything that can be raised in a temperate climate does 
well on these plateaus; even buckwheat can be raised there to 
advantage. Now, fully ninety per cent, of the peas marketed 
from this county are raised on the mountains, and they are 
the life of the soil. 

General McCurdy, on Sand Mountain, opposite Fort 
Payne, averages seventy- five bushels of corn to the acre, and 
uses no guano. That, of course, is extraordinary. 

The mountain roads are numerous and splendid, the only 
bad places being at the creeks, and these cieeks are being 
bridged by the county. 

So far as I know there is not a forty acres of land in all 
this section of the country from which one would have to go 
more than three miles to i each a church or school. 

There are numerous water mills, and a good many steam 
mills; "grinding" is handy, and lumber can be had at the 
mills for fifty or sixty cents per hundred feet. 

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The woods are usually open, and therefore easily cleared, 
and the timber is ample for all purposes. 

Stock water is abundant; there are a good many springs, 
and good wells of freestone can be had anywhere by digging 
from twenty to thirty feet. 

Generally speaking, the winter rains do not begin before 
December 15, and last until March, with a good deal of height 
weather in January or February, and we have a sufficiency of 
rain during the fall to answer all purposes. 

For those who want homes, and want to know for them- 
selves what can be done, and is now being done, on these 
mountains, let them visit, or write to any of the following 
parties: 

S. C. Estes, Pisgah, Ala. ; Joseph Norris, South Hills, 
Ala. ; Eev. Noblitt, Wills, Ala. ; Joel Rogers, Rogers, Ala. ; W. 
L. Justice, Crossville, Ala. ; R. C. Daves (late tax collector). 
Sand Mountain, Ala. ; John Mason, Mentone, Ala. ; J. M. How- 
ard, Heneger, Ala. ; Bud Gilbert, Floy, Ala. ; Thomas Ryan 
(one of our county commissioners). Thirty-nine, Ala.; W. R. 
Longshore, Lovelace, Ala.; F. M. O'Rear, Bankhead, Ala. 

To close, I will say that a man on Lookout Mountain car- 
ried to Fort Payne, last summer, a watermelon that weighed 
eighty pounds, and sold it to James Russell, a merchant, for 
one dollar and a half, and a man from Sand Mountain brought 
a wagon load of watermelons to Collinsville and they averaged 
forty pounds each, and were raised in the cotton field. 

Very truly, 

W. O. W. PAINE. 



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THE IDEAL CLIMATE, 



Temperatuee at Valley Head, DeKalb County, 
Alabama. 

From the records of the Weather Bureau (E. P. 
Nicholson, M. D., Observer at Valley Head), for the 
last nine years, the following is the average tempera- 
ture: 



January 36° 


February 


44° 


March 


49° 


April 60° 


May 


66° 


June 


74° 


July 76° 


August 


75° 


Sept. 


68° 


October 57° 


Nov. 


49° 


Dec. 


46° 



The average annual Rainfall, 52 inches. 
Average date first Killing Frost, Nov. 3. 
Average date last Killing Frost, April 1. 



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PRACTICAL REFERENCES. 



Below are given the names of a few heads of fami- 
lies, who have, during the last few years, moved 
from other States and settled in North Alabama, 
within the territory of the Alabama State Land Com- 
pany, and are now living at or near the postoffices 
named : 



Pernal J. Smith, 



Santy Mills, Jackson County. 

S. M. Robinson. 



Gebaldine, DeKalb County. 



C. S. Halmark, 
W. J. Thomas, 
A. S. Tinney, 



William Gidley, 
W. H. Bond, 
R. M. Thomas, 
S. T. Allen, 



J D. Brock, 
E. A. Oliver, 
C. A. Hurst. 



Sand Mountain, DeKalb County. 



J. C. Bray, 
J. A. <iaines, 
E. G. Kidd, 
John J. Dillbeck, 
D. H. Glenn, 
D. H. Allen, 
A. W. Dillbeck, 
H. M. Long, 
J. A. Walker, 
A. D. Luther. 
G. C. Luther, 



Dr. R. W. Cain, 
G. B.S. Medlock, 
G. W. Head. 
W. L. Justice, 
R. J. Brown, 
J. T .Gaines, 
J. J. Foster, 
John Sauls, 
E. Crossley, 
W. P. Allen, 



Dr. J. R. Sherman, 
W. J. Vansaut, 
J. B. Luther, 
W. H. Luther, 
L. Luther, 
H. Frazier, 
E. M. Walker, 
W.L.Brady, 
Leroy Heaton, 
H. D. Hardin. 
E. D. Russ, 



Walter Ingram, 
G. W. Pharr, 
J. M. Pressley, 
C. H. Shelley, 



Wills, DeKalb County. 

J. H. Payne, 
R. J. Shelley, 
C. J. Crump, 



William Tippet, 
C. W. Clayton, 
A.C.Allen. 
W. H. Pharr, 



L. A. Tinney, 



Chavies, DeKalb County. 

John A. McCurdy. 

Ten Broeck, DeKalb County. 

Oscar Griffin, William White. 



S. A. Kemp, 
J. T. Thompson, 
J. W. Dumas, 



Skirum, DeKalb County. 

M. A. McPherson, 
J. J. Englewood, 



David Justice, 

Bob Hicks. 

J. T. McDaniel, 



Thirty-nine, DeKalb County. 



E. N. Whitmire, 
John Dickerson, 
Rev. W. B. Tedder, 



W. H. Hopper, 
Charles Whitmire, 
G. W. Dickerson, 
J. J. Williams, 



J.G. Hicks, 
J. W. Perry, 
£. Maxwell. 



(8) 



Wm. Richardson, 
George Green, 
A. B. Jones, 
J. W. Ayres, 



RODENTOWN, DeKALB COUNTY 

John Izral, 
R. J. Bailey, 
C. Z. Bobo, 
L.. S. Heaton, 



Thomas J. Beck, 
P. G. Bates, 
R. J. Brown, 
L. A. Bates. 



PisoAH, Jackson County. 



Dr. T. W. Arnold, 
T. J. Welch, 
John T. Richards, 



M. L. Crawford, 
J. F. Armstrong, 
Henry Chamberlain, 
J. Ingram, 



F. A. Meeks, 
T. C. Hardy, 

Barney McGlone. 



Hex, DeK ALB County. 



James Stiefles, 
A. H. Sitz, 
Thomas Stiefles, 



C. C, Boozer, 
Jackson Stiefles, 
R. F. Brown 
Joseph McNeil, 



Criss Swann, 
John Bishop, 
Daniel Boozer. 



John McDowel, 
Wilson Brooks, 
Dock Brooks, 
Joseph Ezzell, 
T. H. P. Thackersou, 
R. A. Thackerson, 
J. J. Brown, 
D. A.Young, 



Mahan, DeKalb County. 

W. T. Stone, 
E.B.Elliott, 
J. M. Hicks, 
S. C. Gass, 
J. H. McDowel, 
James Brooks, 
Green Ezzell, 



G. A .Thackerson, 

H. G. Coots, 

J. R. Young, 

B. C. Stone, 

John Elliott, 

M. C. Dean, 

A. P. Dean, 

W. W. Parker, 



J. M. Ridgeway, 
Wm. McPhearson, 
C. B. Mc Mahan, 
A. S. Tinny, 
Wins McKenzie, 
W. M. Brock, 
E. W. Black, 



Crossville, DeKalb County 

Creed C. Clayton, 

W. Y. Croft. 

L. C. Weatherington, 

R. A. Cash, 

C. W. York, 

V.T. Hicks. 

J. W. McMahun, 



John McDowell, 
John Luellen, 
C. W. King, 
J. W. Nix, 
B. C. Jones, 
T. Z. Jones, 
M. M. Bagwell. 



Chumley, DeKalb County. 



M. P. Waldrup, 
W. H. Owens, 
M. B. Chumley, 
D.A. Furr, 
J. S. Ward, 



J. S. Absher, 
P. Stephens, 
A. N. Mince, 
J. P. Harbour, 
Wm, Yarbrough, 



P. M. Chumley, 
W. D. Furr, 
J. W. Newman, 
E J. King, 
B. Lucy, 



GiPSON, DeKalb County. 



W. A. Persall, 



R. G.Baxter, 
Ben Gibson, 



James Stone. 



(»). 



VIEWS OF PROBATE JUDGE COOK. 



Office of W. C. D. Cook, 
Judge of Pkobate, 
DeKalb County, Alabama. 

Fort Payne, Ala. 

DeKalb County is situated in the northern part of the State 
and has a population of about 18,000. 

The county sea.t is Fort Payne, a town of 1,500 inhabitants,, 
located on the Alabama Great Southern Railroad, fifty miles south 
of Chattanooga. 

The surface is broken, having two mountain ranges passing 
through the whole length of the county, from northeast to south- 
west — the Lookout on the east, with its historic terminal point 
near the city of Chattanooga, and the Sand Mountain, with its 
beautiful table lands, on the west. 

Between these mountaii ranges lie the beautiful and fertile 
Wills Valleys, separated by a chain of ridges which extend from 
notheast to southwest the whole length of the county. Through 
these valleys flow bold, clear streams, fed by numerous springs of 
both freestone and limestone water. 

The Alabama Great Southern Railroad tra\erses the county 
from northeast to southwest, a distance of forty miles, which gives 
to the whole county fine shipping facilities. 

The lands in these valleys produce fine crops of wheat, corn, 
cotton and vegetables ; in fact, everything usually grown in this 
latitude (35° N.) 

The climate is unsurpassed for healthfulness. 

Iron ores are found in great abundance; also fire and pottery 
clays. Coal in considerable quantities is rained in the Lookout 
Mountain. 

It is, however, to the table lands that I would direct particular 
attention. More than one-third the area of the county is occupied 
by the Sand Mountain plateau. The lands on this plateau are gen- 
erally level. There is an abundant supply of pure freestone water. 
The timber supply is practically inexhaustible — chiefl}' oak of the 
various kinds, hickory, pine and chestnut. 

The soil is of a light, sandy nature, easily cultivated, and 
produces abundant crops of corn, cotton, oats, rye, sorghum and 
vegetables of all kinds. 

It is unsurpassed as a stock growing country. Horses, cattle, 
mules, sheep, hogs— in fact, all kinds of stock — do well on the 
range for the greater part of the year. 

The climate is most delightful. The summers are cool and 

(10) 



pleasant; the winters mild — just cold enough to be invigorating. 

I have said that these lands produce abundant crops — I do not 
mean to be understood as saying these lands are fertile, but I do 
v^ant to say that by careful cultivation and by fertilizing, good 
crops can be grown. A judicious farmer can, during the fall and 
winter months, prepare at home all the fertilizers necessary to be 
used on the farm. These fertilizers, when prepared and sown in 
the drill, not only produce good crops of everything usually grown 
on the farm, but permanently improve the lands. 

The Alabama State Land Company owns thousands of acres 
of these lands, which can be bought on easy terms. 

Society is exceptionally good. We have as good schools on 
this mountain as you will find anywhere in this country. In al- 
most every community schools have been built up and churches 
organized ; indeed, you will not find in all this land a more virtu- 
ousland intelligent people than reside on this mountain. 

I do not know of any section of country where a man of 
limited means can do better for himself and family than here. 
With pluck and energy he can build up a beautiful and happy 
home, and gather about him a competency of everything neces- 
sary to the enjoyment of life. Persons seeking a retired and quiet 
life would be delighted with this country, for here they would be 
far removed from the rush and bustle of busy life, and from all 
those evil influences which tend so much to poison the lives of our 
children. 

It is, indeed, a growing country, and I believe the time will 
shortly come when it will be unsurpassed in material prosperity, 
and in the culture and refinement of its people. 

In conclusion, I desire to say that what I have written, I have 
written with no other object in view than that of aiding persons 
who seek homes to find a location where they can rear and edu- 
cate their children, under such circumstances and influences as 
shall tend to develop in them the principles of pure manhood and 
womanhood. Such a country, in my opinion, is Sand Mountain. 

Very truly, 

W. C. D. Cook, 
Judge of Probate, DeKalb County, Ala. 



COLLINSVILLE, DEKALB COUNTY, ALA., AND ITS EN- 
VIRONS. 



As to climate, we have a geographical situation which is 
neither tropical nor temperate, but a happy commingling and as- 
similation of each. 

The writer has been a citizen of this locality for twenty years. 
Extending over that period, the lowest fall of the thermometer 
noted is fifteen degrees above zero. The summer heat, though 
of long duration, is not so intense as most persons would be led 

(11) 



to premise ; on no occasion have I seen the thermometer register 
a hundred in the shade, yet it passes up to eighty-five, and from 
that to ninety-five, many days in succession. 

Snowfall in winter is the exception, not the rule. As to 
health, we compare most favorably with any region in America. 
Dreaded consumption we are quite free of, sporadic cases only 
here and there. Fevers of a mild type, seldom epidemic. So- 
called chills and fever, contracted only by those who, by their ex- 
posure and indiscretion, invite the disease. 

We are also comparatively free from catarrhal affections, 
bronchitis and kindred ills. 

There are many old people in this vicinity, and I point to 
them as evidence of health and prolonged life. 

The water here is of good quality and abundant supply. It 
not only runs out, but gushes from numberless springs which feed 
the small and larger brooks that plow our valleys Water is one 
thing of which we boast, and we can show what we proclaim. 

As to schools, we hope for an improvement — yet even now 
"they are in the reach of all, and a rudimentary education can be 
inexpensivel,y secured ; churches are located in such numbers as to 
be accessible, and denominational choice need not be ignored on 
the score of remoteness. 

As to social standards, we have, like all other localities, the 
grades incident to small town and rural life. Of the colored race, 
there are but few here, and contact with them need not fill one's 
mind with fear or doubt. They prefer, and usually do, live in a 
settlement of their own. They also have their own schools and 
churches. As to political creeds — talk and believe as you like ; vote 
as you choose. You will not be ostracized for it. 

As a home for those who wish to engage in agriculture, there 
is no country in all this vast Am»^rican domain in all respects supe- 
rior to Alabama. The soil and climats respond with promptness 
to the touch of the husbandman, in the full and complete develop- 
ment of such small grain as wheat, rye, barley and oats. If one 
will plant and work, one will be obliged to reap. Corn and cotton 
at present rank first in importance. The former grows and matures 
here in a most perfect state. Cotton "upland" is raised here quite 
extensively, and connected with other farm products, will leave 
some margin, after deducting expense. 

The soil is so varied in its nature, that almost any kind or 
variety can be secured. 

The cost of lands in large bodies has quite a range in price. It 
is worth from three to twenty -five dollars per acre. 

Many varieties of grass grow nicely here, which can be con- 
sumed as pasture, or cut for hay. This is a country and State with 
a great future. 

In years to come, when these United States will count two hun- 
dred millions as her population, Alabama will be ready to present 
her fiftieth part. You who struggle in the oft snow-bound East for 
your own and families' needs, without a margin, come to us. You 
that dread the terrors of a Northwest blizzard, come down here ; 

(12) 



you that have small means and want a home, buy it here ; j^ou that 
have means and leisure, come and search us out, and then deter- 
mine for yourself, if this is not a land of great promise — a land that 
will in the near future have in operation its thousand-wheeled indus- 
try, and send over its borders its fabrics and its wealth. 

We need immigration, and those who wish to emigrate can find 
that for which they seek right here. 

J. A. Hall. 
Collinsville, Ala. 



DIVERSIFIED AGRICULTURE AND STOCK RAISING, 



Midway between Birmingham, Ala , and Chattanooga, Tenn., 
west of the Alabama Great Southern Railroad, and six miles from 
Collinsville, on the brow of Sand Mountain, overlooking the broad 
and fertile Wills Valley, is located the picturesque village of Daw- 
son. 

The writer, who for a half century has lived within three miles 
of the site, took up his residence here nearly twenty years ago, at 
which time, with the exception of a few claims and improvements 
of the most primitive character, the surrounding country for miles 
was an unbroken forest, but to-day the same area is as populous a 
section as can be found in North Alabama, our immediate beat reg- 
istering nearly two hundred voters. 

• Our people, representing every Southern and Middle State, 
with an occasional Northern family, are honest, industrious and, 
in many instances, quite a prosperous class, engaged in diversified 
agriculture and stock raising. 

Our soil, though not so fertile as the valley lands, is easily ren- 
dered tillable and remarkably easy of cultivation, producing on an 
average: 

Corn, per acre 25 bushels 

Wheat, per acre 20 bushels 

Oats, per acre 20 bushels 

These figures can easily be doubled by fertilization, though 
it is not necessary to fertilize in every case. For instance, Irish 
and sweet potatoes, the yield of which is as great as can be had 
in any country. 

Both soil and climate are well adapted to the raising of a 
variety of fruits, namely: apples, pears, peaches, plums, figs," 
grapes, etc., while all fruits and vegetables grown either on or 
under a vine are wonderfully prolific. 

The soil being almost free from alkalies, all vegetation, and 
especially the grapes, grow spontaneously; and the crops gener- 
ally suffer less from the effects of drouth than do those in low 
lands and limestone countries. 

The minerals are in a great measure undeveloped, though 
coal and iron ore are known to exist quite abundantly in certain 

(13) 



localities ; and also fire clay of a superior quality. And in the 
writer's opinion, the day is not far distant when the mineral re- 
. sources will greatly enhance the value of our lands. 

The topography of the country, radiating northwest and south, 
is a gently undulating table land, embracing no less than 1,600 
square miles, and possessing as great a variety of timber, and 
perhaps as great general versatility, as can be found anj^where in the 
United States ; and at the same time there is perhaps no section 
of country where homes can be obtained on such easy and reason- 
able terms. 

The climate is mild the year round ; the water is pure and 
plentiful ; the air possesses an abundance of ozone, and all 
things are conducive to perfect health and longevity of life. 

William A. Small. 
Dawson, Ala. 



LETTERS FROM SOUTHERN FARMERS. 



>,[Repri7ited from The Southern States (Magazine), Published in Balti- 
7Jiore, Md.] 

[Frequent inquiries about Southern agricultural conditions, coming 
from farmers in the West and Northwest, suggested the gathering of let- 
ters from practical Southern farmers, giving their experiences in agricul- 
ture in the South. A great number of letters of this character have been 
secured, chiefly from men who have migrated from the North and West 
to the South, and have been engaged in various branches of agriculture.] 

An lowau's Success in Alabama. 

Valley Head, Ala. 

I have lived in North Alabama for the past twenty-one years. 
Previous to that time I resided in Iowa a number of years. I left 
Iowa to get away from the rigors of the severe winters and the 
extreme heat of summer. When the time came that I could 
leave, I looked at a great many localities and finally located 
where I am now living, on Lookout Mountain, four miles east of 
Valley Head, DeKalb county, which is on the Alabama Great 
Southern Railroad. 

I find that the climate here is all that could be desired. The 
winters are not severe, and while the thermometer sometimes 
reaches ninety degrees in the summer, the nights are always cool, 
giving assurance of a good night's rest after a good day's work, 
and this is a blessing which cannot be enjoyed in Iowa. There I 
have frequently seen the thermometer at ninety degrees when I 
got up in the morning. All of this section is well supplied with 
running streams, so with pure air and good water we are entirely 
free from all malarial diseases, which is not the case in the West- 
ern States. 

I have all my life been a farmer, and since moving to this 
place have raised successfully all the grains, grasses, etc., that 

(14) 



will'ffrow in tliis latitude, such as corn, oats, rye, barley, clover, 
timothy, herd grass, etc., and nowhere I have ever been will pota- 
toes do so -well, and yield so bountifully as here — both sweet and 
Irish potatoes- While in Iowa I paid considerable attention to 
the raising of Irish potatoes. When 1 reached the South, I found 
that the natives were not doing anything in that line ; the sweet 
potato mostly was raised, and very good crops of that variety 
were and are raised. In Iowa the crop of Irish potatoes was, owing 
to the season, sometimes good, sometimes partially good and 
sometimes a failure. Since being here, I have raised Irish 
potatoes every year without a single failure, and raised from 300 
to 500 bushels per acre, and one time I gathered Irish potatoes at 
the rate of 700 bushels per acre. The natives would hardly believe 
this, even when twelve of them assisted me in measuring the ground 
and digging and measuring the potatoes. The ground was laid 
off three feet and the potatoes were cut up and planted one foot 
apart in the rows. 

Blackberries grow here naturally, and all that is necessary to 
have them in abundance is to let the ground alone and they will 
soon come and thrive, and they build up the land very fast. 

All varieties of apples, peaches and pears also do well, and 
garden vegetables and small fruits thrive. Some of the nicest 
cherries I have ever seen anywhere grow here. 

There are many reasons to advance which prove that this is 
the place for practical farmers to locate. One of the main reasons 
is that here a farmer can live cheaper and keep up his farm 
cheaper than in the Western States, because there everything 
needed to build houses, fences, chimneys, etc., and even fire-wood, 
has to be hauled long distances, while here rock, fuel and timber 
of all kinds for all purposes are abundant. There is a very im- 
portant consideration that must be taken into account by all prac- 
tical farmeis, and that is the question of under-drainage. Any 
real agriculturist knows that under-drains prevent drowning out 
when there is too much moisture and mitigate the severity of a 
drouth. In most Western and Northwestern States, and in some 
European countries, immense sums of money are necessarily 
spent in this manner to insure a crop, while here the natural 
formation is such that the under-drainage is perfect — better than 
all the money expended in the Western States could make it. 
This is a great item in the economy of farming, and every one 
who understands the necessity for under-drains will appreciate it, 
for it secures good crops under proper management and cultiva- 
tion. 

I find that it does not cost near so much to raise stock here as 
it does in the Northwest. All kinds of stock live well ^ight or ten 
months in the year on the natural range grass that grows in the 
woods. This will keep stock ten months except in cases of, com- 
paratively speaking, exceedingly early and severe winters; and, like 
the people, the stock of all kinds are healthy. This land responds 
to fertilizing very readily indeed, and an old field that has been 
exhausted by improper cultivation can soon be brought back to 

(15) 



fertility by a little manure and the judicious use of clover, rye and 
peas. 

If any practical farmer will come here I will take pleasure in 
showing him all the advantages I here enumerate, and will, I am 
sure, convince him that my views are correct. 

It is wonderful how soon this country recovered from the rav- 
ages of the late war. It was stripped of fencing and outbuildings, 
and of live stock and of men, to a considerable extent, but every- 
thing has long since been replaced and much more added. If the 
seat of war had been in the Northwest as it was here, there would 
be a different tale to tell. 

John Ma.son. 



HEALTH AND PROSPERITY IN NORTH ALABAMA. 



Snake Ckeek, DeKalb County, Ala. 

I was raised in this county, and lived here until after I was 
grown and had a family. I moved to Kansas fourteen years ago, 
and remained in that State two years, raising two crops there, but 
the climate was so disagreeable and the winters were so cold, and 
the wind so severe, and the health of myself and family was so bad, 
that I left the State and went to Arkansas. I lived in that State 
three years, during which time I traveled over the most of the thir- 
teen counties when not working my crop, trying to find a suitable 
place to locate, but I could not be satisfied, and after making three 
crops, I left Arkansas, principally on account of sickness and severe 
drouth. I came back to North Alabama, where I was raised, con- 
vinced that in all points going to make up easy and cheap living 
North Alabama far surpassed any place I had seen. 

The climate here is much milder in the winter than is the 
climate of Kansas, and it is cooler here in the summer than in 
Arkansas, and the general health here is a great deal better than 
in either of those States. Here we have pure air, and running 
water in abundance, and consequently are entirely free from all 
malaria or epidemic of any kind. Some portions of Kansas and 
Arkansas are more fertile than some places in North Alabama, but 
it takes much more to do a farmer there than here, because he has 
to feed all kinds of stock a great deal longer every year. Here all 
kinds of grain do well, and clover grows and holds well. So do herd 
grass and timothy, and in fact, all of the cultivated grasses. 

There is a natural grass growing in the woods all over this part 
of this country, which makes a splendid range for horses, cattle and 
sheep. It is usually up in March, and lasts all through the summer 
and fall, and the stock thrive and grow fat on it. The timber is 
also plentiful — pine, poplar, chestnut in great abundance, and all 
the oaks. These trees bear mast, that keeps hogs well through the 
fall and winter. Cattle here are all free from epidemics, and are 
far healthier and do better than in either Arkansas or Kansas. 

(16) 



All liinds of vegetables and small fruit$ do well here; so do 
both sweet and Irish potatoes, also apples, peaches, pears, etc. 

A iarmer can live and run his farai much cheaper than in 
either of the other two States, for here everything he needs for 
building houses, chimneys, fences, etc., is all oround him in large 
quantities, and he has to feed very little. The people are civil, 
quiet and, generally speaking, industrious. Churches and schools 
are plentiful and, taken altogether, North Alabama is decidedly 
the best place for a farmer, particularly one of small means, I have 
ever seen. 

John H. Keith. 



ALABAMA AHEAD OF NEW ENGLAND. 



Mentone, Ala 

I came to this country nearly fourteen years ago from the 
State of Maine. We hnve a delightful and healthy climate, good 
water and plent}^ of timber, such as pine, chestnut, hickory and 
various kinds of oak. The soil produces all kinds of fruits and 
vegetables, also rye, oats, wheat, millet and sorghum cane fully as 
well as in New England. With the same treatment I have raised 
without any special preparation as good rye as I ever saw grow 
anywhere. 

We have a good range for cattle, hogs and sheep, and they 
can be raised cheaply. Hay and fodder are easily raised. The 
heat is not severe, the mercury rarely rising above ninety degrees. 
In the valley it is warmer in the summer than on the uplands. 

The Alabama Great Southern Railroad traverses the county, 
and furnishes a market easilj'^ attainable at Birmingham and 
Chattanooga and other parts of the country. 

We have no outlawry here. The people are hospitable, and 
welcome industrious, orderly people from any quarter of the 
world. As to politics, every man enjoys a perfect freedom in vot- 
ing as he desires, without persecution. I think I am safe in say- 
ing that a man can do much better here farming than in New 
England, and can situate himself comfortably with one-half the 
means, if he buys cautiously, that it would require there. 

C. N. Maxwell. 



(17) 



NORTH ALABAMA A POOR MAN'S PARADISE. 

Mentone, Ala. 

I came to this part of the country seven years ago from West- 
ern New York, and located on the top of grand old historic Look- 
out Mountain, which is a plateau from five to ten miles broad and 
eighty miles long, with a general elevation of two thousand feet 
above sea level. It is a beautifully undulating wooded country, 
abounding in natural grasses and forest plants, affording excellent 
pasturage for cattle, sheep and other stock nearly the entire year. 
The forest trees are largely oak, chestnut and hickory, affording 
most seasons such an abnndanceof nuts that hogs grow and fatten 
with but little expense to their owners. Stock of all kinds, includ- 
ing poultry, are remarkably free from disease. Our cheap lands, 
though not rich, are easily made productive by proper tilling and 
fertilization, producing nearlj^ all the grain, grasses, vegetables 
and fruits of the Northern States in perfection, alongside the more 
Southern productions, such as cotton, peanuts, sweet potatoes, 
etc. 

We have the purest and most invigorating mountain air; long, 
pleasant summers, and short, mild winters ; no swamp nor mala- 
ria ; an abundance of pure water from the mountain springs. Our 
society is about equally divided between the Southern and North- 
ern settlers, who have long since given up sectional differences, 
and all are working with a single aim for the improvement of our 
section. 

We need more farmers, more mechanics, more new enter- 
prises, such as mills for utilizing our timber, fruit canneries, cream- 
eries, etc., and bettei stock. 

I have lived in several of the Northern States, and am free to 
say that while they have generally a richer soil and better trans- 
portation facilities, and often better markets, and generally better 
educational advantages than we have in the South, yet we have 
enough to offset these advantages in our climate and variety of 
productions, and the length of our working season. Farmers can 
successfully plow here every month in the year. 

While the fuel question in many places West and North is one 
of serious consideration, here we have millions of cords of the 
finest wood decaying on our hillsides for the want of people to util- 
ize the waste timber, and with an abundance of coal underlying 
our mountains, the cold storms of winter have little to terrify us. 
Truly this is a poor man's paradise. 

C. F. Parker. 



(18) 



FAILURE IN CROPS UNKNOWN ! 

Mentone, DeKalb County, Ala. 

Gentlemen : — This is to those, both North and South, who 
desire to escape the rigors of a Northern winter and hot summer : 
Come South ! 

To those in the flood region, come up on higher ground, and 
breathe the pure air of Lookout Mountain ; to those west of the 
meridian of the western end of the Gulf of Mexico, come east, 
where there are no crop failures ; all who wish to live in a salub- 
rious climate and enjoy health, will please review your school books, 
and refresh 3'our memory in regard to the earth's surface being 
divided into zones, and that it is 3'our right as an American citizen 
to go where you can better your condition ; and I take^ pleasure in 
sending this invitation. 

I am of the opinion that there are thousands who, if they knew 
or could believe there was such a country as this, they would do 
as we did in Iowa: sold $40 land for $20, and bought in Alabama 
for $2 to $5 per acre, which is better in many respects, besides 
being in a mild and healthful climate, which is found in latitude 35° 
in this part of the United States, and by following the isothermal 
lines around the world, you will pass through some of the most 
noted places on earth; then wh}^ stay longer in a place where life 
is made a burden — with sickness, hardships and dangers? 

I am speaking to those who really desire to make a change, 
and, as I have lived in the North, it is an easy matter to make the 
comparison, so I will endeavor to show the difference between Cen- 
tral Iowa and North Alabama : 

1. We find the winters short and mild, altogether amounting to 
less than one month in the North ; neither are we subject to extreme 
heat in the summer. The rainfall is regular, and failure in crops 
unknown ; the soil is sandy loam, and naturally drained — therefore 
no stagnant water, and no possible chance for malaria. 

Taking a territory with a radius of one hundred miles, which 
includes North Alabama, Georgia and a part of Tennessee, gives a 
country that every trade, profession and following could thrive and 
every known industry find a field. It is rich in natural resources, 
and only wants men and money to develope them — of which there 
are, judging from the outcroppings, vast quantities of coal, iron, 
lime, kaolin and aluminum clay, besides many other minerals ; and 
of building materials of many kinds, plenty of timber for fuel and 
building and manufacturing purposes. All of these are advatages 
over the Northwest. 

The soil is adapted to a higher state of fertility, and with ordi- 
nary means, little energy and no capital, a man can make a good 
living out of the soil, while with extra labor and expense, we have 
accomplished wonderful results, of which I will mention a few of 
the champion products : 

We have raised over 500 bushels of Irish potatoes per acre, and 
the day they were dug we sowed rye and clover on the same ground, 
cut a green crop in the winter for the milch cows, cut a seed crop 

(19) 



of rye in the spring, and two crops of clover in the pummer and 
fall — all inside of twelve months — and the land was in better order 
than in the beginning, as it was only a sage field when prepared for 
potatoes. Potatoes bring from 50 cents to $1 per bushel, rye $1 
per bushel, hay $15 to $20 per ton. 

Again, we have made pigs weigh 312 pounds, when ten months 
old ; steers 1,200 pounds, with no other feed than the grass they get 
in the woods; have seen clover grow four feet the first year, while 
it took two years to grow two feet in Iowa. 

As a general thing, the stock of Alabama is inferior, although 
the best cow in the United States was raised in North Alabama, 
and there is a man in Middle Alabama who receives the highest 
price for butter, for all he makes, regardless of ihe year or season. 
This is sufficient to show what can be done on the farm. 

Sheep, poultry and honey are other items of importance. 
Fruit and dairy farming, no doubt, will pay ; great quantities of 
fruits go to waste for want of canninti: factories, and the growing 
demand for canned goods prompts me to invite comers to invest. 

Being desirous of calling attention to my own immediate 
neighborhood, I will state that I am at Mentone, on the top of Look- 
out Mountain, which is about eight miles wide and is traversed 
lengthwise fifteen miles by Little river, which is fed by thousands 
of clear water springs. The mountain at this point is dish-shaped, 
and over one hundred square miles of territory is drained by this 
river. The surface is undulating, and cohered with timber of many 
varieties, and also grass- There are some few farms opened. The 
people are composed of Northern, Western and native born, and 
appear to begetting along harmoniously, and are anxious and will- 
ing to do all in their power to make new immigrants feel at home. 

Most all improve in strength after a short stay, have excel- 
lent appetites, and I have often told parties that it is a great place 
to live a long time before they knew it, there being none of 
those dangers which prevail in other districts to cause anxiety or 
nervousness — there being no mosquitoes to fight, no hot nights to 
swelter in — whereby a person feels so refreshed that time passes 
pleasaintly. 

Now, as we have nearly every natural advantage, and in the 
right kind of climate, it is useless for me to say more, but will ask 
you to form no idea about it, but just take a little run over here, 
and we will show you more and better than we can tell. 

Those parties who cannot step off at a moment's notice, and 
have the least desire or curiosity to hear further particulars, will 
address 

Your humble servant, 

E. Mason. 



(20) 



Office of Mx^.jok W. H. Huntek, 
Secretary, 
Grand Army of the Republic. 

Birmingham, Ala. 

Maj. F. Y. Anderson, 

Land Commissioner, Q. & C. System, 

Biiminj^ham, Ala. 

Dear Sir: Your note, asking me to give my impressions of 
DeKalb county^, etc., was received, and is cheerfully answered. 

In company with Comrade J. F. Zediker, of Nebraska, we vis- 
ited the beautiful Wills Valley, through which the Alabama Great 
Southern Railroad runs, and the wonderful plateaus of Sand and 
Lookout Mountains, in June last, for the purpose of making per- 
sonal investigations of that section of DeKalb county, to determine 
whether or not it was a desirable location to recommend to our 
Northern comrades, and their friends who contemplate moving 
South. 

We left the Queen & Crescent railroad at CoUinsville, Alabama, 
under the escort of Agent W. 0. W. Paine, and soon found ourselves 
on the top of the famous Sand Mountain, fifteen hundred feet above 
the sea; and for the next two days, we traveled northeast toward 
Valley Head, a distance of some fifty miles, over the finest body of 
mountain lands we ever saw— level as a prairie, with splendid tim- 
ber — oak, chestnut, hickory, poplar, walnut and pine. 

We were most hospitably entertained by the thrift}" farmers 
along the road, who had good dwellings, plenty of good stock, plenty 
to eat, and old corn in their cribs. 

Wild fruits abound, and seem " to the manner born," while cul- 
tivated fruits and vegetables of nearly every variety seem acclim- 
ated and at home. Every few miles we passed churches and school 
houses, saw and grist-mills, and only one small grave-yai'd. 

I could not help thinking that ff the famous old Baron, after 
whom DeKalb count}'' was named, could come back from the echo- 
less shores and see the county as it is, and realize what it is certain 
to be in the near future, he would be very proud of his Alabama 
namesake. 

The numerous sparkling streams we crossed all seem to empty 
into Town creek, which would be called a river at any other place. 

There is room for twen^^^y thousand Northern and Western 
farmers on this wonderful mountain plain, for the improved 
places we saw were often many miles apart. 

Your agent, Mr. W. O. W. Paine, of Valley Head, Ala., in- 
formed us that most of these lands belong to the company you rep- 
resent, and can be bought for an astonishingly low price, and on 
long-time payments, and that your titles are direct from the Gov- 
ernment. 

Late on the night of the second day we reached Valley Head, 
the highest railroad point in the State, having an altitude of one 
thousand fifty-six feet. Next morning we climbed old frowning 
Lookout, not far from where Joe Hooker fought and won " above 

(21) 



the clouds." Here we found several old Union soldier farmers, all 
doing well and happy. 

We also saw very fine currant bushes, loaded down with luscious 
fruit. We found all kinds of small fruits and berries growing to 
perfection. We did not like the lay of the land as well as that on 
Sand Mountain, but saw many fine farms ; and lots of splendid 
corn, wheat, oats and clover. 

One old comrade farmer explained to us the secret of his suc- 
cess, and he had no patent on it either, for it was simply " muscle 
and manure." 

We have recommended Sand and Lookout Mountains as the 
most desirable places Ave saw on the trip (ever3'thing being con- 
sidered) to our frost-bitten, drouth-stricken, blizzard-wrecked 

friends of the Northwest. 

Yours truly, 

W. H. HUNTEK, 

Ex. Maj. 12th Ohio Vol. Cav. 



Valley Head, Ala., May 31, 1895. 

Editor Southern States, 

Baltimore, Md. 

Dear Sir: It is about one year now since I first became 
interested in reading the little books or pamphlets sent out by 
Frank Y. Anderson, general manager of the Alabama State Land 
Company, of Birmingham, Alabama. 

I then lived in Wood county, Ohio, where I had been a resi- 
dent for thirty-four j'^ears in the same township (Bloom). My 
home there consisted of thirty acres of land, and will say to the 
credit of all the so-called " black swamp " lands of Ohio, there is 
no better to be found for the production of corn, wheat, oats and 
clover, but nevertheless, that country has its draAvbacks — such as 
seven months winter, leaving only five months to plant, reap and 
sow each year. 

Fruit raising is so uncertain in Ohio, that after setting out 
and pruning an orchard of 150 apple, pear and plum trees for 
twenty years, I can remember of only three years, that the May or 
June frosts did not kill nearly all my fruit. This, with the effects 
of the changeable condition of the atmosphere, from warm to cold 
and cold to warm, on the health and comfort of both man and 
beast, is the principal reason why I became interested in reading 
the advertisements of the Alabama State Land Company. I also 
congulted with private individuals (by letter) living in Alabama, 
who invariably gave the assurance that the good inducements pub- 
lished by the above named land company were true. So I at once 
began to distribute the same information to my friends, who ap- 
peared to be suspicious of the correctness of the information given 
by the land company, and also the letters I received, saying : "You 
go down there and you will not find anything you expect to find if 

(22) 



you believe what you read in these pamphlets and letters." Now 
you, who are so honest yourselves that no printed matter is to be 
relied upon, mark this down to my credit or discredit, just as you 
please to do. I am here, near Valley Head, DeKalb county, Ala., 
and I find the cheap lands here ; I find a good, hospitable, moral 
and Christian people here. I landed here on the 10 o'clock train 
April 3, 1895 — this is now within four days of being two months 
ago. This is not long, of course, but when I tell you that during 
ray short stay here, I have not seen a man drunk, I have not heard 
any man or woman swear or use profane words, you may wonder. 

And I will also say this to the credit of the Southern people : 
They confess that the war of the late rebellion is over, and as a 
rule, the people here are less inclined to harbor ill feelings against 
the Northern people about the past than is the case with many 
Northern politicians, who (I well remember) are fighting the war 
over, more or less, in every political campaign. There is no such 
putting on of war paint here — if there is I have not discovered it. 

There are only some seventy colored voters said to live in this 
(DeKalb) county. I can say, for all I have seen of them, they 
are quiet and well-behaved citizens. 

I was told not to bring my team of horses so great a distance 
south (650 miles). " They won't endure the change of latitude." 
But my son who came with me, and I, both shipped our teams 
through, and we find up to this time, that horses like men, feel bet- 
ter where the temperature is less changeable. 

North Alabama has the four seasons of the year — spring, 
summer, fall and winter. This is necessary (in my opinion) to 
insure the good health of man or beast. Go south until the four 
seasons are almost blended into one, and no doubt it would not be 
advisable to go there yourself or ship stock there from the North. 

As to agricultural lands, I will say where I live, and as far as 
I have looked this country over, I find that if a home-seeker knows 
anything about the difierent kinds of soil in any other State, and 
knows what kind he wants, he can find it right here. 1 think I 
found the kind of soil I valued the most of any found in Wood 
county, Ohio. I can raise any kind of crop here I ever saw raised 
in Ohio, and very many more successfully. I will mention the 
more successful : Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes — in fact, all gar- 
den and field vegetables, peaches, apples and small fruits. 

Respectfully, 

Eli Raub 



" Corn," says the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, "is not the only 
product which is breaking all records. The iron output these days 
is the largest which the country has ever had at this time of the 
year. Moreover, it is steadily growing. This is one of the most 
striking evidences which could be found that a period of business 
activity, exceeding any which the country has yet known, is close at 
hand. The woolen and cotton mills are also on a boom of produc- 
tion." 

(23) 



The first section to feel the benefit of the increased 
output of furnaces and factories is bound to be the min- 
eral belt of North Alabama, toward which mechanics 
of all kinds will flock as labor comes into demand. 
The feeding of the thousands of new-comers into this 
industrial State will create a market for every pourwi 
of produce that can be grown upon the farms of this 
section. 



SHE LOTES ALABAMA. 

A Lady from the Northwest Finds Her Alabama 
Home Mucfi More to Her Taste. 

Apropos of the subject of immigration to Alabama 
that is attracting such general interest just now, the 
Age- Herald publishes the subjoined letter from Mrs. 
M. C. Arter, a lady who moved to Alabama from 
Nebraska about a year ago and established a home. 
Maj. F. Y. Anderson, Land Commissioner of the Queen 
& Crescent system, hearing of her progress, asked her 
to write her views about the relative conditions of the 
home of her adoption and in the West, which she has 
done, addressing the letter to the Southern States Mag- 
azine, which journal is now publishing the testimony 
of Northern and Western settlers who have taken up 
their residence in the South. Mrs. Arter's letter is 
particularly interesting as showing how much more 
pleased women are with the South than the bleak 
Northwest. The newspapers often contain letters 
from men, giving testimony from their standpoint as 
to the superiority of the South, and now we have the 
testimony of an intelligent lady, giving the attractions 
of the South from woman's point of view. 

MRS. arter's letter. 

Having had nine year's expeiience in the West, in the north 
central portion of Nebraska, the year past spent in North Alabama 
has seemed like an oasis to a desert traveler. Not that the West 
is wholly devoid of good elements. The soil of the prairies is often- 
times rich and deep, and the ploughman rejoices in long, straight 
furrows; but when his grain is tender, just glinting the field with 
green, and the terrible sand storm sweeps up from the sand hills, 

(24) 



tearing it from the ground or burying it out of sight, his joy is 
turned to sorrow. He knows his crop of small grain is doomed. 
But, with a brave heart, he says it is not too late for corn, and, with 
planter and lister, puts in the corn. It grows rapidly, and his 
hopes are raised as he sees the tassels waving and watches the 
broadening blades. Anxiously he scans the signs for rain as the 
tender leaves begin to curl, but often, instead of the hoped-lor rain, 
the hot winds come sweeping up, blighting both corn and hope, as 
he sees his second crop destroyed. Perhaps the hot winds have 
not come, and h« sees the ears well formed, promising:; an abundant 
harvest, when a mighty storm comes sweeping down with wind and 
hail, und his broad field is laid low, bruised and broken like his 
heart. 

With a family to provide for, he gathers up the fragments of 
his crop and prepares to struggle with the long, cold winter 
approaching. The wood is perhaps four, eight, ten or more miles 
away, growing along the streams that often must be forded amid 
treacherous quicksands to reach it. He is lucky if he finds a gov- 
ernment forty from which he can secure his supply — although 
liable to be called to account for stealing government timber. He 
gets his load, but, on getting back, finds the flour or meal barrel 
empty, and sends the children out to gather up '"buffalo chips" 
with which to make a fire, and next morning he hauls his load to 
the nearest town to sell it and procure bread. 

His kouse is but a rough-lumber shanty, hauled oftt-ntimes a 
long distance, and has cost him, at the lumberyard, from $18.00 to 
$22.00 per thousand. He has cut the sod from the bottom land, 
with which it is enclosed perhaps on the sides to keep out the 
piercing blasts when the mercury has sunk to 10 or 25 degrees, per- 
haps, below zero. 

The Northern prairie, with its rich soil, sunshine, and in some 
portions, sparkling streams of pure water, aftbrds but scant mate- 
rial for founding the new home. Not a stone, not a tree on the 
new comer's quarter section — only sod. 

When 1 hear complaint of the hard labor of clearing the tim- 
ber to make way for the new home here, my thought is, what a 
blessing there is something to chop, and the sound of the wood- 
man's ax is music to ray ear. It means logs for walls and lumber 
for tlie floor and roof easily obtained. Where the forests are the 
saw mill soon finds its way. Forests and rocks are bed-fellows, 
and the fireplace, with is broad hearthstone, soon warms and 
cheers the new home. There is no scarcity of fuel ; pile it high 
and rejoice in the glowing warmth and light ! 

My most painful eraot'on in establishing my home here has 
been fiom the necessity of burning so much of the timber on 
the land where it grew. I thought of the many little prairie homes 
where hearts would be cheered by the possession of one single pile 
of logs that must be sacrificed. Their ashes seemed, too, but a 
poor return to mother earth for the richness and beauty of her 
creation. Some laugh at my groves left here and there, and the 
row of trees by the highway ; but may the time never come when 

(25) 



the mountains and valleys ot the fair South will be wantonly 
stripped of their forests and fountains of life allowed to dry. 

Though it is less than one year since I began my new home, 
and the season has been marred by frost destroying its fruit to an' 
extent not known before in forty years, if the "oldest inhabitant" 
is to be relied upon, still we are rejoicing in the fullness of our 
stores. Corn, cotton, sweet potatoes, millet, sorqhum, various for- 
age crops and vegetables are ail abundant and of fine quality. 
The small fruits escapf^d the frosts to such an extent as to leave 
a fair crop of strawberries, blackberries and grapes. 

My chief pride is in some fine, crisp, celery. On looking for 
the seed, I was told it was not raised here ; there was no call for 
the seed and they didn't keep it, and didn't think it could be 
grown. My faith that it could was sufficient to induce me to send 
for a single package, and from it I have as fine celery as any one 
need wish. So far it has shown no signs of decay and is still grow- 
ing, though m}^ table has been daily supplied for two weeks with 
well bleached, tender, crisp hearts, and there seems to be no neces- 
sity for depending on Cincinnati for a supply. 

Forty acres here I consider worth more, under intelligent cul- 
ture, than four hundred in northwest Nebraska. 

I see no reason why stock raising should not pay as welL 
Grasses abound, and the great markets are no farther away.. 
Shelter can be cheaply provided, and no fear of their drifting before 
a fierce blizzard till their blood is frozen in their veins and they fall 
dead in its path. The winter is short, and by care green pasturage 
can be had at all seasons. Rye and various grasses sown in early 
fall or late summer will furnish it. 

The fruit industry of this section is still in swaddling clothes,, 
but the markets are annually calling for a greater supply — we are 
becoming more and more a fruit-eating people, and this locality has 
every natural qualification for this industry. The rainfall is abun- 
dant and the fruit growers do not need to mortgage themselves to- 
a great irrigation corporation in order to grow it or any other crop 

Irrigation is now being discussed by the people of westerrk 
Kansas and those of western and northern Nebraska; preliminary 
surveys have been made and the theory pronounced practicable^ 
Eastern capitalists stand ready — waiting only till the land owners, 
in despair, put themselves under bonds at their dictation. Why be 
tempted into this last ditch, when sunny skies, a genial clime, with 
nature's bounties spread on every side, are waiting to welcome the 
willing hands that will build worthy homes from which their child 
ren and children's children shall rise up and call them blessed. 

The business people of the South welcome every well-inten- 
tioned family that settles in their midst. It is only necessary that 
the two sections become acquainted to live in harmony; each can 
learn some better ways, and the benefit be mutual through business 
and social intercourse. 

The railroads of the South over which 1 have traveled, espe- 
cially the Alabama Great Southern, cannot be surpassed in its 
accommodation of its patrons. Clean, comfortable day coaches 

(26) 



and superb compartment sleepers for night. No Pullman sleepers, 
with the upper berth, though unoccupied, locked down, but com- 
modious double and single compartments, where one can have 
the privac}' and comfort of a room well ventilated and wholesome. 
Gentlemanly officials and attentive trainmen, from conductors to 
brakeraen. 

There is an abundance of land waiting the home seeker, at low 
prices and easy payments, all along its lines, from Tennessee to its 
terminus. 

Respectfully, 

Maria C. Arter, 
Lookout Mountain, near Gadsden, Ala. 

Frnit on Chandler Mountain. 

^ AsHviLLE, St. Clair Countv, Ala. 

I desire very briefly to call the attention of those who wish to 
grow fruits in Alabama to Chandler Mountain. This Mountain is 
one of nature's beauties and is located some six miles north of 
Ashville. In almost every respect it is the best place to grow fruit 
I ever saw in Alabama. This mountain rises on the west bank of 
Little Canoe creek, on the line of Etowah and St. Clair counties, 
and etxends southwest a distance of eleven miles, and then sud- 
denly drops down. The table lands on its top are about 800 feet 
above its base. It is bounded on the east by the beautiful valley of 
Canoe creek, and on the north and northwest by Greasy cove. 
The mountain is from seven to eight miles across, and on its top 
are to be found beautiful table lands, in width from two to four miles. 
These lands are quite productive, well timbered and well watered, 
and produce well almost any kind of fruits and vegetables grown 
in this latitude. Thej' hardly ever fail to bring fruits, being above 
the frost latitude. The small fruits, as well as peaches, apples, 
pears, etc., can be grown with great success up there, and thrown 
into the early spring markets. 

The Alabama Great Southern Railroad runs at the eastern base 
of the mountain. It is within forty miles of Birmingham, and in less 
than sixty miles of Chattanooga. Fruits can be gathered on this 
mountain and placed on the Cincinnati market in less than twenty- 
four hours. Early peaches can be grown there and sold in Cincin- 
nati for $7.00 or $8.00 per bushel. Health is almost perfect; scen- 
ery beautiful. A public road crosses this mountain, leading from 
Steeles, a station on the Alabama Great Southern Railroad, to 
Greasy cove. 

Some of these mountain lands belong to the United States 
government, and can be homesteaded. Almost one-half of the 
lands belong to The Alabama State Land Companj'', Birmingham, 
Maj. F. Y. Anderson, general manager. 

There are a dozen or more farmers living on this mountain, and 
there are the best of reasons why there should be more than a 
thousand families there within the next three or five years. All 
manner of vegetables grow well on this mountain land. I could 
say much more, but will say no more now. 

(27) 



This mountain is in townships 12 and 13, south, and ranges 3 
and 4, east. 

John W. Inzer. 

Intelligent, Energetic Men Wanted. 

Spijingville, Ala. 

We have a uniform climate, running into neither extreme 
heat or cold ; every variety of soil — mountain lands, table lands, 
valley lands and bottom lands along our principal streams. All 
of these are adapted to the successful cultivation of the cereals, 
grasses, stock raising; with no better climate or country for fruits 
of all sorts, grapes and berries. 

We have neither in the towns nor cities, nor in the country 
anywhere, any locality subject to disease or epidemics of any class. 
Generally speaking the country is high, with dry, healthy atmos- 
phere and abundance of pure limpid water gushing from the 
mountain sides, of which we have many in almost every vicinity. 

All we lack in Alabama to make it the foremost State in the 
Union, is men — high-minded, intelligent — who are not afraid to roll 
up their sleeves to make their homes attractive and happy. 

We will guarantee homes for all. Lands are cheap, living is 
■cheap — none cheaper anywhere — and the way is open to every 
good citizen to make a handsome competence for himself 

W. S. FOKMAN. 

Remunerative Crops. 

Mr. John E. McCleskey, Boaz, Marshall county, Ala., writes: 
" Understanding you are desirous of getting the experience of 
persons who have emigrated from other States, especially from a 
colder climate, and settled in Alabama, and as I regard myself as 
one of that class, coming from a colder country, I send you a few 
lines. 

" This is a very good country for a man to make a good liv- 
ing at farming. I have done so, and am doing so from j-ear to 
year. It is a good country, however, for all classes of industrial 
laboring men. 

"I find my lands will produce and yield me returns in almost 
anything and everything I exact of them. I say to them, I want 
corn, wheat, potatoes ; I stir them in a proper and timely way ; I 
plant the seed, they germinate and grow, In this way, I say to 
them, ' You do your duty, and I will do mine.' 1 try in good taith 
to keep my promises, for the reason that I feel assured they will 
try to be faithful to me, and thus, by persevering and holding out 
faithfully to the end we almost invariably come out rejoicing 
together in a knoweledge of the fact that we are rewarded with 
remunerative crops ot corn, wheat and potatoes. 

" Lands equally as good as mine, and located all along the 
Alabama Great Southern Railroad, can be purchased from The 
Alabama State Land Company', Mr. F. Y. Anderson, General 
Manager, Birmingham, Ala. 

(28) 



" Should any reader desire further or more specific informa- 
tion, he may acdress the undersigned. 

" Respectfullj', 

" John E. McClesky, 
" Boaz, Marshall County, Ala." 

A Prosperous County. 

Mr. M. L. McDaniel, Etowahton, Etowah county, 
Ala., writes : 

" Being one among many others who have tested by personal 
experience the advantages of the Routhern climate and soil, as 
compared with the country and temperature of the more rigorous 
latitudes, having now been a resident of North Alabama for several 
years and having succeeded in making an independent and com- 
j>etent living, and learning from various sources that many are tell- 
ing their expei'ience in a public way, I have concluded to do the 
same. 

"I grow, with other crops, peanuts, pumpkins and potatoes — 
both sweet and Irish — corn, oats, cotton, sorghum, tobaccc, and, in 
fact, almost anything I want. 

" I have improved and brought up my land so that it yields me 
three to four times as much in successive crops as it did at the be- 
ginning. 

" My land averages, in good seasons, within a fraction of a five- 
hundred-pound bale of lint cotton. Had cotton on some of my land 
last 3ear fully ten feet high and pretty well boiled from bottom to 
top. A full acre like it would have turned out at least two and pos- 
sibly three, bales. 

" My neighbor excelled in pumpkins, making them weigh from 
forty to fifty pounds. A fifty-pound pnmpkin is a big thing and 
worth looking at. Ours is a rather sandy soil — vegetable loam. 
With our usually favorable seasons, of corn a fair average is from 
twenty-five to fifty bushels, and of wheat, ten to twenty bushels per 
acre. 

" I have seen as fine tobacco grown on our lands as can be pro- 
duced anywhere. 

"We ought to devote more time and land to growing some of 
the grasses. Orchard grass, millet and several varieties can be 
produced with profit. We need hay for the supply of our larger 
towns and cities. 

" To every one, North and West, I would say, we have here a 
good country and one that I would not exchange for any other. 
We have not much cold weather in winter, and not much hot 
weather in summer; a healthful country, a soil just as good as 
an industrious worker will make it ; good water, and everything else 
favorable. 

" Some of the railroad lands here are reallj^ excellent in quality. 
I purchased some from the Alabama Great Southern Railroad, and 
they are among the best I have. 

" 1 came near forgetting to say that we raise excellent fruit — 

(29) 



apples, peaches, pears, etc. I have apples that will keep until the 
new growth comes in, first class in quality. 

" If any man desires other or more specific information on 
matters about which I have written, he can address me. 

" M. L. McDaniel, 
" Etowahton, Etowah county, Ala." 

Healthy North Alabama. 

Mr. a. J. Hunt, Friendship, Marshall county, Ala., 
writes ; 

"I have now lived in the South several years, having come 
from the State of New York. We have in our section about as 
many of the elements necessary to make up what may be termed 
the good of the land as in any State — uniformity of climate, 
excellent water, a generous and prolific soil, constituting the base — 
soil which, with timely and intelligent manipulation, will produce 
crops that have no superior in any community. This section of 
the country is reached via the Alabama Great Southern Railroad, 
along which road land similar to my own can be purchased at from 
$4 to $5 per acre on easy terms. 

" Several years' experience have confirmed opinions as to the 
capabilities of Alabama, and I would urge these upon the attention 
of many thousands of would-be thrifty, hard-working people, cul- 
tivators of the soil, who are struggling in the North against adverse 
•contingencies for a livelihood. 

"North Alabama is in part rolling, somewhat mountainous; 
nothing rough, ragged or forbidding; just variation enough in its 
surface and topography to impart beauty and grandeur to the 
landscape; abounding in rich, productive valleys, ridge plateau or 
table lands a few hundred feet above the level of the contiguous 
valleys ; just undulating enough for sufficient and ready drainage, 
free from rock, quagmire or marsh, with soil of every variety for 
•cultivation. 

" In speaking of the soils ot North Alabama, their composi- 
tion and adaptability, I am prepared to say, for all ordinary farm 
products, — cotton, wheat, oats, corn, tobacco, rye, potatoes, Irish 
and sweet — are produced as abundantly and successfully as in any 
of the States or in any soil I have known anywhere. So, too, I 
may add, as to the growing of fruits— the peach, apple, pear, grapes 
of many varieties — whether for their fruit or for wine, each, all 
flourish in this region. 

" Stock raising, sheep, hogs, cattle, horses, etc, can be pur- 
sued with profit. 

'^ With favorable seasons and proper preparation of soil, we 
average from twenty to forty bushels of wheat per acre; oats, from 
thirty to seventy-five bushels, and corn anywhere from fifteen to 
seventy-five bushels on our lands ; our wheat, oats and corn will be 
found to be ot as full weight per bushel, and of as good and mar- 
icetable quality as in the best cereal regions elsewhere. 

"Tobacco is not now grown with us as a money crop. Many 

(30) 



farmers raise tobacco for domestic use, little, it any, for market, 
lience small patches only are seen here. But I am satisfied from 
what I have seen of its culture that no section of our country is 
better adapted for its successful cultivation. 

" Yevy much the same may be said of grape culture as here 
-stated of tobacco. Many varieties of the grape are grown in our 
.soil as luxuriantly and abundantly in yield as in any other country. 

" On the homestead of nearly every enterprising farmer will 
be seen the vines of several varieties; many produce the fruit and 
make wine, both for the family and for sale. 

" This is the land and country for potatoes of all sorts; no- 
where that I have lived or traveled have I seen finer tubers than 
are yearly produced in our soils. The same is equally true as to 
garden vegetables, the strawberry, etc. 

" Citizen residents are here from many of the different States. 
As a people, they are upright, moral and industrious. Travelers 
will notice more churches and school houses by the wayside along 
•our public thoroughfares and cross roads, and more regularly occu- 
pied at their appointed seasons, than he is accustomed to see in 
many other localities. 

Nature has done abundantly for us. 

" We have a mild and quite uniform temperature, not subject 
to extremes of heat or cold in summer or winter. 

" Should any one desire fuller or more specific information on 
any point or matter pertaining to North Alabama, if he will put 
himself to the trouble to address me at my postoffice, Friendship, 
Marshall county, Ala., stating his desires, I will take pleasure in 
undertaking to supply his wants. But the best of all will be for 
him to come and see for himself." 

Sunshine and Pleasure. 

Blocton, Bibb County, Ala. 

Three years ago I bought ten acres of land two miles from 
Blocton which is situated near the Alabama Great Southern Rail- 
road, in Bibb county, with the intention of growing vegetables and 
marketing to this town. 

This land which I bought was considered worn out, and con- 
sequently it had grown up with old-field pines, but 1 find that it 
yields far better than I had expected. 

This year I gathered over two hundred bushels of sweet po- 
tatoes from one acre, while other varieties of vegetables produce 
equally as abundantly. 

All vegetables sell at good prices. Potatoes sell readily at 75 
cents per bushel. All fruits do exceedingly well in this section. 

In this immediate neighborhood, and all along the Alabama 
Great Southern Railroad, there are thousands of acres of well tim- 
bered lands which can be liought for from $4 to $5 per acre, and 
they are equally as well adapted to gardening as my land. 

All the lands in this section are underlaid with coal. 

Our place is destined to become a city. Our country will be 
known as one of sunshine and pleasure. The summers are pleasant, 

(31) 



scarcely ever reaching over ninety degrees, and the winters also 
are pleasant, thermometers scarcely ever registering lower than 
thirty degrees above zero. 

A look is all that is necessary to convince any one that this is 
the grandest section of the country. 

Neighbors all around are reaching out in this direction faster 
than I am. 

J. M. Wallace. 

Farther South ! 

The Farm, Garden and Orchard Flourish. 

Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa County, Ala. 

I am constantl}'- traveling through the counties of Tuscaloosa, 
Bibb and Hale, located in Middle Alabama, on both sides of the 
Alabama Great Southern Railroad — one of the divisions of the 
Queen & Crescent system — and necessarily have excellent oppor- 
tunities of judging of the character of the country. 

In these counties are located, convenient to transportation, 
great belts of long leaf pine timber belonging to the railroad, stand- 
ing ready to make fortunes for those who come here and invest. 

This is an exceedingly favorable section of the State for farm- 
ing, gardenintr, fruit and stock raising of all kinds. 

We need more settlers ; industrious men who desire to better 
their condition should come here to reside. 

The sections I have visited abound in excellent water, numer- 
ous springs and rivers. 

Th'j climate is uniform and healthy, and everything the farmer 
can produce can be sold at good prices at the nearest station on the 
railroad. 

The lands the railroad has for sale lie along its line, conven- 
ient to the stations, and can be purchased at from $8 to $5 per acre, 
on easj' terms. 

Persons wishing to examine this country should write, giving 
me timelj' notice, and I will meet them at the Tuscaloosa station 
and take pleasure in showing the country. 

Below I give, as references, the names of a few of our farmers 
residing in the counties named, who, no doubt, will be glad to 
answer anj' inquiries in reference to this section of Alabama. 

Very truly, 

C. E. Crandall, 
Local Land Agent. 

Below will be found the names of a few heads of families for 
references in Tuscaloosa County, Ala. : 
Names. Postoffice. 

Andrew Clines Crump 

James VV. Norris Tuscaloosa 

W. C. Jemison Tuscaloosa 

N. N. Clements Tuscaloosa 

E. D. Christian Oregonia 

J. W. Earnest Oregonia 

Lumas Clements New Lexington 

(32) 



: NAMES. POSTOFFICE. 

Sam Clements ^'ew Lexington 

George Washington Norris Binions Creek 

W. P. Keeton Woodstock 

JoeHase J^earl 

Clay Lewis Carthage 

John Auxf ord Carthage 

Henry Banks Carthage 

Jim Smith Romulus 

J. W. Robertson Romulus 

W. S. Spencer Sylvan 

John Townsend Sylvan 

N.G. Holly Fosters 

T.A.Rice... Northport 

N.T. Fatton Northport 

W.W.Watson Northport 

N.L. House • Northport 

Joe Ferguson Northport 

J. M. Jackson Hayes 

W. A. Keopple Coaling 

Mathew Vance Vance Station 

J. M. Lindsay Cocoa. 

W. G.Dunn Wiley 

E. J. Hagler Samantha 

The Best Watered State in the Union, 

CoALiKG, Tuscaloosa Co., Ala., Feb. 14, 1895. 
Mr. e. E. Crandall, 

Land Agent, 

Tuscaloosa, Ala. 
Dear Sir : Replying to your inquiries as to what section of 
the United States I prefer as a home, I answer, with emphasis, 
Alabama. I am by birth a German, and came to this country in 
1853. I have lived in Kentucky, " The Blue Grass State," and 
also in the State of Missouri. I moved from Missouri to Mobile, 
Ala., where I lived for several years; leaving there I came to 
where I am now living, where I have been for the past twenty 
years. I can truly say that I am glad I came, for both myself and 
family have enjoyed excellent health during all this time. I have 
prospered in this country, having made enough to live on, and 
have saved some money. If any one would give me a farm in 
the North to move there I would not accept it, but would thank 
him, assuring him that the balance of my days would be spent in 
Alabama. The South has a great many advantages over any 
country in the way of climate. Vegetables of every description 
grow the whole year; stock can be kept in good condition for the 
most part of the winter without feed, consequently this is quite an 
item with a person who has stock, costing but little to keep them. 
Oats are sown in January and harvested in June ; we then plant 
the same ground in corn, potatoes or any other crop that is raised 
in this section, making two good crops off the same ground. Most 
of this part of the State is rolling, sandy soil, which makes it easy 
to cultivate. Alabama is the best watered State in the Union, 
finding any kind of water imaginable. I will take pleasure in 
answering any correspondence relative to this section, and would 

(33) 



advise any one looking for a healthful, prosperous locality to 
visit and investigate this section before settling elsewhere. 

Yours truly, 

W. A. Keopple. 

A Garden Country. 

Johns, Jefferson County, Ala. 
Manufacturers' Record Publishing Co, 

Baltimore, Md. 

Gentlemen: I bought lands from The Alabama State Land 
Company, of Birmingham, Ala.; eighty acres situated in section 
19, township 18, range 5, west, in Jefferson county, Alabama. The 
land is splendid for all kinds of agricultural purposes. I can 
raise from thirty-five to forty bushels of corn to the acre. Oats, 
wheat, rye and other grains grow to perfection. Grapes, apples, 
peaches and all kinds of fruits grow magnificently. All kinds of 
vegetables do exceedingly well. The timber consist*? of pine and 
oak principally — both of fine quality and plent}^ of it. Coal and 
iron ore abound in exhaustless quantities, and of first-class quality. 
The coal is a natural coking coal and is considered the best in the 
State for melting oi'e, etc. The coal is also used for steam and 
other purposes. 

Dr. J. C Jones, of this place, has a garden of about one acre 
and.a quarter, well set in guinea grass, which produces from four 
to five tons of hay annually. The other acre is planted in all kinds 
of vegetables, including corn, potatoes, beans, onions etc., etc., 
which, with a little fertilizer, annually will realize at market prices, 
in the last few years, at least $200 to $250 without any extra atten- 
tion after cultivation. 

Four years ago this land was an old turned out field, the poor- 
est land in the vicinity. On a piece of ground of this acre, 200 
feet by 15 feet, he sold $15.00 worth of onions, besides what he used, 
from April 1 to the present time. This, however, was well fertil- 
ized. From one peck of Irish potatoes he raised fifteen bushels. 
Other vegetables yield in proportion. 

According to your request, I herewith append the following 
names of tarmers, and their addresses, who reside in this section: 



Henry Raines Adger, Ala. 

Simon Sellers Adger, Ala. 

J, B. Cox Adg-er, Ala. 

Dr. J. M. Armstrong Adger, Ala. 

Mac Maboney Adger, Ala. 

J. P. McAdory McCaully, Ala. 

William Dixon McCaully; Ala. 

A. J. Letson McCaully, Ala. 

John E. Parsons McCaully, Ala. 

William Sellers McCaully, Ala. 

J. K. P. Laird Razburg, Ala. 

J. C. Howton Razburg, Ala. 



(34) 



S. V. Travis Kazburg, Ala. 

Jacob Smith Toadvine, Ala. 

C. C. Smith Toadvine, Ala. 

J. T. Willard Greenpond, Ala. 

Harvey Norwood Greenpond, Ala. 

Dr. Ragsdale Greenpond, Ala. 

If there is any other way in which I can serve you, I am, 
Yours to command, 

Isaac B. Paksons. 

High, Level and Fertile Hale County. 

Carthage, Hale County, Ala. 

Editor Southern States, Baltimore, Md.: 

Dear Sir: — I notice that you are publishing letters from peo- 
ple who have moved South for the purpose of locating and farming. 

I am a native of Denmark, Europe. A good many years ago 
I settled in southern Louisiana, but soon found that, though the 
lands were rich, the country was not as well suited to me as I Avould 
like. I therefore, moved into Alabama and located on the high, 
level, fertile lauds in Hale county, about one mile from Carthage, a 
station on the Alabama Great Southern Railroad, where I have 
now lived for twenty-three years, and never enjoyed better health. 
This is the most suitable country I have found since I have been in 
the United States, for farming and Iruit raising purposes. 

I have a good farm and a comfortable home, good water, fine 
health and enough to last me my lifetime. 

Our crops are fine and markets convenient. We can r.aise 
from a bale to a bale and a half of cotton per acre on our land, 
without the expense of fertilizing, and from forty to fifty bushels of 
corn. 

Stock do well the entire year by running on the ranges. 

I advise all seeking homes to settle in this section of Alabama. 
Very respectfully yours, 

O. L. Anthon. 

The Soutb's Great Increase. 

{From Birmingham Daily News.) 

The man who tbinks that the South is retrograding, or is at a 
standstill and is not coming rapidly to the front as the favorite 
section of this North American continent in all things, evidently 
does not know the history of his country as it is being enacted day 
by day. 

Who ever heard of people starving in the South? Yet manj' 
farmers of Nebraska are now without the necessaries of life. Who 
everheardof rain not falling for a space of three or four months in 
this section and all the crops drying up for the lack of the refresh- 
ing showers from heaven ? Yet this is becoming a yearly occur- 
rence on the wind-swept plains of the West. Who ever heard of 
iron being n)ade as cheaply in the North as in Alabama, or of any 
other section possessing as many advantages of mineral wealth, 
soil and climate as tMs favored spot of ours ? 

The world is at last realizing all these facts and many more. 

(35) 



New England manufacturers have learned that they must come 
South with their plants or quit the field. They are not going to 
quit the field, so they are coming South. 

A definite idea of the rapid strides of progress made by the 
South of late years is given in a recent issue of the Baltimore 
Manufacturers^ Record. A person has but to read these few 
figures to be convinced that this section is destined yet to be the 
greatest in the country. The Manufacturers^ Becord reports in 
detail the progress of the material wealth of the South during the 
past fourteen years, i e., from 1880 to 1894, that is both astound- 
ing and agreeable. The following table, says the Manufacturers 
Record, tells the story of Southern progress more forcibly than 
pages of detailed descriptions could do : 



Railroad mileage 

Yield cotton, bales 

Yield grain, bushels 

Coal mined, tons 

Pig iron produced, tons 

Number of cotton mills 

Number of spindles 

Number of looms 

Capital invested in cotton mills 

Capital invested in cotton-oil mills 

Number of cottou-oil mills 

Lumber sawed and planed, value of product. 

Lumber sawed and planed, capital 

True value of property, as per census report. 

Farm assets 

Value farm products 

Capital invested in manufacturing 

Value of manufactured products 



1880 



20,612 

5,755,000 

431,000,000 

6,049,000 

297,301 

180 

667,000 

14,323 

$21,976,713 

$3,504,000 

40 

$46,938,100 

$26,902,644 

$7,641,000,000 

$2,314,000,000 

$666,000,000 

$257,244,561 

$457,453,777 



1894 



46,900 
500,000 
000,000 
000,000 
560,000 
425 
000,000 
68,000 
,900,000 
000,000 
300 
§^$114,746,674 
' ,604,375 
,261,000 
,000.000 
,000,000 
,000,000 
,000,000 



600, 



+$107,1 
$30, 



J§ni,534 

§§$3,182 

t$850 

t$800 

$$1,000 



§ 1893. 



t Census of 1890. 



Estimate based on 1890 census. 



Analyzing these stupendous figures, the Eecord continues : 
" It will be seen that since 1880 the railroad mileage of the South 
has increased from 20,612 miles to nearly 47,000 miles, or, in 
other words, we have built in the last fourteen years over 6,000 
more miles than the South had in operation in 1880. In that 
period the South has quintupled its coal production, rising from 
6,000,000 tons to 80,000,000 tens ; increa.«ed its pig iron production 
from less than 400,000 tons a year to nearl}' 1,600,000 tons; in- 
creased the capital invested in its cotton mills from $21,900,000 to 
$107,000,000; the number of spindles in its cotton mills from 667,- 
000 to H. 000, 000; 'he capital invested in its cotton oil mills from 
SiS,500,000 to $30,000,000. The census report of 1890 showed that 
that the true valuation of all property in the South was $11,500,- 
000,000, against $7,641,000,000 in 1880, an increase of ^3,900,000,- 
000. During the same census period the value of the South'sfarm 
assets made an increase of nearly 900,000,000. Tiie capital in- 
vested in its manufacturing interests in the last fourteen years has 
advanced from $257,000,000 to $800,000,000; the value of the man- 
ufactured products turned out in the South has risen from $457,- 
000,000 to at least $1,000,000,000. Such a record of progress as 
this may well command the attention of the business world. It 



(36) 



deserves the careful study and consideration of men who are 
watching the currents of the world's business interests and lasing 
their calculations for the future upon their investigations." 

After reflecting upon these facts and figures, the thought nat- 
urally arises, that, if we have made such rapid strides during the 
past fourteen years, under adverse circumstances, how great are 
our possibilities for the future, with the prospect of bettei times, 
the blotting out entirely of sectional animosities, and the knowl- 
edge of our great resources and advantages made known to the 
world. The South's future is a bright one. 

Southward, Ho ! 

The Climate of the South More Genial Than Germany— 

Der Auswanderer Right— Major Frank Y. Anderson 

Writes a Letter in Reply Full of Pithy Points. 

{From the Birmingham Age-Herald.) 

Every capital city of Europe is north of Washington except 
Athens. The substantial immigrants who come to America look 
at the map and see that the South is several degrees lower in lati- 
tude than their native land, and they very naturally dread to come 
South. They think it lies in the tropics, and that the heat of sum- 
mer is something terrible. After they have located there they find 
that the cold and heat of the Northwest is more extreme than in 
the South. They learn that the South has the most equable and 
temperate climate in the world. 

The leading German paper of New York, Der Auswanderer, 
has gone to trouble and expense to prevent German immigrants 
from making the fatal error of settling in the Northwest instead 
of the Sou/th. It has compared the temperature of Germany with 
that of the South, and the result is a surprise. It is found that the 
climate of the South is more temperate and equable. This fact 
will turn the tide of German immigration from the Northwest to 
the South. 

The editor of Der Auswanderer sent a copy of the chart to 
Maj. Frank Y. Anderson of this city, and asked his opinion on 
the comparison. Major Anderson replied in the following pithy 
letter : 

Birmingham, Ala. 
To Emigrant Publishing Company, 

72 Times Building, 

New York, N. 1''. 

Gentlemen : I beg to acknowledge your favor of 
the 9th instant, enclosing advance sheet of " The 
South Versus the Great Northwest," which will be 
published in Der Auswanderer of August 20, and 
which I have read with much interest. 

(37) 



Summary of International Meteorological Obser- 
vation Chart. 

From Observations Made Simultaneously in Both Countries. 



American Stations. 



St. Louis 

Louisville, Ky 

Washington, D. C 

Baltimore 

Knoxville, Tenn . . . . , 
Charlotte, N. C ..1^5, 

Little Rock, Ark , 

Atlanta, Ga 

Memphis, Tenn 

Norfolk, Ya 

Valley Head, Ala . . . , 

Abilene, Tex 

iShreveport, La 

Ft. Grant, Ariz 

Montgomery, Ala. . . 
Wilmington, N. C. .. 

Vicksburg, Miss 

Savannah, Ga 

Charleston, S. C 

Mobile, Ala 

Birmingham, Ala ... 
Jacksonville, Fla. ... 
New Orleans, La .... 

Yuma, Ariz 

Galveston, Tex 

Key West, Fla 



European Stations. 



Memel 

Munich 

Ausbacli 

Breslau 

Bamberg 

Friederichshafen 

Wustrow 

Leipsic 

Berlin 

Kiel 

Cassel 

Madgeburg 

Hamburii 

Carlsruhe 

Frankfurt-on-the-Main 



26. 

27. 
28. 
28. 
31. 
32, 
33. 
33. 
35 
35, 
36, 
35 
37 
37 
38 
39 
M9 



41 

41 

41 

42 

43 

46 

46. 

49 

64 



36.. T 

36.5 

38. 

38.3 

38.7 

38.8 

39.4 

41. 

41. 

41.9 

42.4 

42.4 

42.8 

43.5 

44.6 



April 


July 







53.1 


77.4 


47.8 


75.1 


45.3 


75.7 


45.9 


76.4 


50.2 


73.5 


50.9 


74.9 


54 A 


74.2 


53.6 


72.6 


55..3 


74.8 


48.7 


77. 


60. 


76. 


55.6 


78. 


57.2 


75.2 


47.3 


66.2 


55.4 


74.2 


54.3 


78.4 


57.6 


74.6 


57.6 


77.4 


58. 


79.5 


58.4 


76. 


60.2 


72.5 


62.2 


78.3 


61.7 


77.3 


56.8 


79.3 


66.8 


78. 


T:i.7 


81.8 


48.6 


68.5 


56.7 


68.9 


52.9 


68. 


55.9 


75. 


54.7 


76.5 


49.3 


77.2 


43. 


68.3 


45.9 


68. 


50.7 


77.2 


51.8 


69.1 


55.6 


76.8 


52.9 


66.7 


42.3 


75.2 


51.6 


74.8 


53.2 


74.1 



The International Meteorological Chart in this 
article, taken from observations made simultaneously 



(38) 



in both countries, is not only new, but the most con- 
vincing argument that I have yet seen in that line. 

Take, for instance, the temperature as shown in 
this chart, of Shreveport, La., and Hamburg, Germany. 
Upon a comparison of these two important points, I 
find that the temperature in January is 37 and a frac- 
tion in Shreveport, and 42 and a fraction in Hamburg ; 
in April in Shreveport it is 47 and a fraction, and in 
Hamburg 42 and a fraction ; and in July — the hottest 
month — it is 75 and a fraction in Shreveport, and ex- 
actly the same in Hamburg. 

This must be a revelation to those who ignorantly 
have supposed that the North presented climatic ad- 
vantages over the South. The tide of immigration is 
naturally along the lines of latitude, hence German 
emigrants should seek the Southern States for new 
homes, for the reason that the climate is similar, the 
lands are cheaper, and the produce raised therefrom 
demands a higher price. 

I select Shreveport because, though well situated, 
its altitude is not high above tide water. If, however, 
the comparison could be made with that portion of 
Alabama located between Chattanooga and Meridian, 
with its beautiful table lands and rich valleys, the 
temperature would be found to be much lower in sum- 
mer and higher in winter than Hamburg, as shown in 
the chart. 

The farmer in the North and West is handi- 
capped on account of the short summers and the long 
and dreary winters. He can rarely make but one crop 
during the summer, and only a small percentage of 
this can be marketed, for, on account of the long win- 
ters, it takes most of the crops raised in the summer 
to keep the stock alive. 

In the South this state of affairs is reversed. The 
summers are long and the winters short and mild, and 
the farmer can harvest from two to four crops on the 
same land, and as the winters are short it takes but a 
small percentage of his crops to keep his stock in good 
condition. 

The result of this is that the farmer in the South 
can sell a large per cent, of what he raises, and is thus 
able to realize much more from a given number of 

(39) 



acres in the South than he can in the North or West. 

All the cereals that can be grown in the North 
and West can be raised in the South, with the addi- 
tion of cotton and tobacco. ' 

In fruits and vegetables, the South has great ad- 
vantages over the North ; they grow more luxuri- 
antly, and consequently are more easily cultivated ; 
they ripen earlier, thus demanding a readier and 
higher market. 

Equally as good lands as those now sold in the 
North and West at from $30 to $75 an acre can be 
bought in the South at from $4 to 110 per acre, and 
this, too, on long time, so as to permit the purchaser 
to make the purchase money, by his labor, out of the 
land. 

Educational advantages are found in every town- 
ship throughout the South, and a hearty and hospit- 
able welcome from every citizen of the South awaits 
those who wish to come and make their homes in our 
midst. 

Very respectfully, 

Frank Y. Anderson. 

The Story of Southern Prosperity. 

The Southern States magazine in this month's 
issue publishes elaborate reports from Southern bankr 
ers and railroad officers in regard to the outlook for 
farming and general business interests, with a special 
reference to the diversification of agriculture in the 
South. 

The reports show that the usual large corn ci'op 
of 1894 will be excelled this year by at least from 100,- 
000,000 to 150,000,000 bushels, and it is estimated that 
the aggregate yield in the South will be from 500,000,- 
000 to 650,000,000 bushels. This yield will be the 
greatest corn crop ever produced in the South. Fruits 
and vegetables, as shown by these reports, are attract- 
ing great attention, and the yields this year have been 
unprecedentedly large. The South has been blessed as 
never before with every crop. The Southern States 
says: "It is an interesting story of abundant crops, 
of freedom from debts and increasing prosperity, which 

(40) 



is told in reports from bankers and railroad officers." 
People intending to make a change in residence 
will not look with displeasure upon a removal to a 
country that is not only prosperous and improving in 
every way, but where lands are cheap, and living easy, 
and every facility for the accumulation and expansion 
of wealth offers itself to the thrifty husbandman. 

Alabama is Advancing. 

{Montgomery Advertiser .) 

The rising sun of prosperity is shedding its benefi- 
cent rays over our industries, driving the croaker to 
seek refuge in silence and to hide his head, so that the 
brightness of its rays shall not dazzle his baneful eyes. 
The fires in our iron furnaces are lighted, the wheels in 
our factories are revolving, the wages of our industrial 
workers are being increased, and in every direction is 
to be seen industrial and commercial activity. From 
all of the agricultural sections come reports of good 
crops. Our farmers have plenty of corn and meat and 
owe less money than at any time since the war. Con- 
fidence is restored and capital is seeking investment. 
The opportunities offered for profitable investment in 
Alabama are attracting attention, and the indications 
are that much money will be invested here in indus- 
trial enterprises and real estate during the fall and 
winter. At present it is Alabama's iron industries 
ttiat are attracting the most attention, and well they 
may. The opportunities for the production of iron in 
Alabama compare favorably with any place on earth, 
and her iron manufacturers can meet the competition 
of the world. 

That this is so is emphasized by the contract re- 
cently made with the Anniston Pipe Company for 
30,000 tons of their product, to be shipped to Tokio, 
Japan. The leading foundries of the world bid for 
this order, but they could not compete with Alabama. 
The contiguity of the ore and the excellent coal reduces 
the cost of iron production here to a very low figure, 
and enables us to successfully compete with all comers. 
This is but the beginning, and the time is not far dis- 
tant when Alabama will be in active competition with 
England for the world's trade. 

(41) 



As it is with the manufacture of iron, so it will 
be with many other industries. The magnificent facil- 
ities which are here for a great variety of manufac- 
tures will eventually attract them to us, and before 
another decade has passed, Alabama will be one of the 
leading industrial States of the Union, if not the fore- 
most one. In spite of the stabs of her enemies, in 
; spite of the predictions of false prophets, in spite of 
the cries of woe and destitution uttered by those who 
are dependent upon her bounty, our grand State is 
forging ahead and is rapidly demonstrating that the 
^wealth of her resources is almost fabulous. 



<42) 



1 



THE MINERAL BELT 

OF 

ALABAMA, 

— IS — 

The Garden 



...SPOT... 

.^m^of the South, 



DO YOU WANT 

Safe Investment, 

To get Rich, 

A Comfortable Home, 

Employment for your Sons, 

A Market, at good prices, for everything you 
raise, 

Good Schools, 

An Ideal Climate, 

Pleasant Surroundings, 

A country where the value of Lands is cer- 
tain to advance, 



THEN LOCATE /N 

The Great MINERAL and AGRICULTURAL 
BELT of ALABAMA, reached through it& 
entire length by the QUEEN & CRESCENT 
System of Roads. . . . 



ADDRESS : 

FRANK Y. ANDERSON, 

LAND COMMISSIONER, 
BIRMINGHAM, ALA. 



QUEEN & CRESCENT 

Runs through the Great Mineral Belt of 
Alabama for over 200 Miles. 



REGULAR LAND RATES. 

§N another page notice is given of the Landseekers' Excur- 
sions which are run by the Queen & Crescent Route 
at half rates on certain Special dates. In addition to this, 
tickets to points on the Q. & C, named below, are on sale the 
year round; they can be used whenever desired, and are 
good for return forty days from date of sale. 



ROUND TRIP LAND RATES 

TO POINTS ON THE Q* &, C. 



STATION S 



o a 

'6 



Akron — Ala. 

Arcadia La. 

Attalla Ala. 

Annistoii ...Ala. 

Dayton Tenu. 

Delhi La. 

Edwards Miss" 

Enterprise Miss" 

Eutaw Ala" 

Valley Head Ala" 

Fort Payne Ala" 



.|!23 00 
32 00 
19 65 
21 20 
15 50 
29 00 
27 00 
26 50 
23 35 

17 50 

18 00 



^ 




o 




11 








^ « 




o 




^ 




fl9 20 




29 25 




15 45 




17 00 




10 90 




26 25 




24 25 




24 50 




19 55 




13 35 




13 80 





STATIONS 



Gadsden 


...Ala. 


Harriman Junct.Tenn. 


Hattiesbur^- . . . 


..Miss. 


Helenwood. ... 


.Tenn. 


King's Mountai 


n..Ky. 


Lancing 


..Tenn. 


Lookout M 


.Tenn. 


Rockwood 


. Tenn . 


Somerset 


- Ky. 


Sunbright 


.Tenn. 



^ 




sS 


o a 




fai; 






o 


$19 85 


13 40 


27 25 


11 25 


7 45 


12 55 


17 90 


13 90 


8 55 


12 10 



fc*'>> 



$1565 

8 80 
24 50 

6 65 

2 85 

7 95 
13 80 

9 30 

3 95 
7 50 



Lookout Mountain tickets are good 90 days, 
from date of sale. 



All other ])oints 40 days 



On the dates of our one fare excursions, the following 
J ates will apply for round trip tickets. The dates will be 
found on excursion posters, which may be had on application. 

Cincinnati to Valley Head, Ala $11 35 

Cincinnati to Springville, Ala 13 60 

Cincinnati to Tuscaloosa, Ala 16 10 

Full information in regard to rates, tickets, schedules, the 
inducements offered to prospective settlers at any of these 
points, etc., will be cheerfully furnished on application to 

W. C. RINEARSON, 

General Passenger Agent, 

CINCINNATI, O. 




HALF RATES 

® TO THE ® 

SOUTH, 



THE 



Queen &(^ RESCENT 



..ROUTE... 



Wants you to go and see the South. 

Go and see if the crops are good and the 

people happy and well-to-do. 
See if you can make it pay to go South to live. 



©z 



:© 



Low Round Trip Rates 

are in effect to land points the year round, and once 
per montli a rate of one fare for the round trip is 
made to all points in Kentucky south of Danville; 
all points in Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, North 
Carolina and South Cardlina; also to certain points 
in Georgia and to all Q. & C. Stations in Louisiana, 

Ask any agent for full particulars. 

Send to us for printed matter. We have a little 
book containing letters from people who have gone 
South. We would like to send you one. 



€HAS. W. ZKLIi, Div. Pass. Agpnt, 4tli ami Race Sts., Cincinnati, 0. 
W. A. BECKLKll, Nor. Pass. Asrent, 111 Adams Street, Chicago, 111. 
€. A. BAIKD, Traveling Passenger Agent, - - Detroit, Mich. 
\y. W. I>riNNAVA?iT, Traveling Passenger Agent. Cleveland, 0. 

OR 

W. C. RINEARSON, 

General Passenger Agent, 

CINCINNATI, OHIO. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 541 496 d 




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